Chapter Ninety-Five: Bloodlust Unleashed

Creak, creak, creak, creak...

By the time we were on the verge of slipping into sleep, the crossbows fixed to the ceiling of the chamber had already drawn their strings tight, waiting only for us to lose consciousness before loosing a hail of bolts and turning every one of us into a hedgehog, sending us straight to our graves.

The Kaleidoscope was already lying beside the iron pipes, her awareness clearly fading. No matter how Ghost-Face Zhang shouted, she did not wake. It seemed she had already fallen into a deep sleep, showing no sign of response at all.

"How many more?" I forced the words out, my whole body limp and powerless.

"Three. Just three!" Ghost-Face Zhang's endurance was clearly better than ours. Though his spirits had dimmed a little, he was nothing like the others. At my question, he frowned, bracing himself on the ground with the treasured blade in his hand, like a defeated general who still refused to fall, his bearing and presence as fierce and imposing as the heroes of old. "We can probably hold out for at most two minutes. If we don't keep playing soon, those crossbows may trigger. By then, even if I had the greatest skill in the world, I fear there would be no way to turn this around." With that, he dragged his legs forward with difficulty, as though each were weighted with a thousand-pound stone, and frowned again. "Some kind of barrier has been activated in this space. There seems to be a powerful spatial pressure in the air." Bending down, he picked up a stone and, gathering all his strength, hurled it at the iron pipe.

But something completely unexpected happened. The moment the stone left Ghost-Face Zhang's hand, the space itself seemed to have turned into viscous liquid, slowing its movement to a crawl. The pipe was only a little over ten meters away, yet before the stone had even traveled half the distance, it dropped to the ground.

Seeing the stone fall, Ghost-Face Zhang did not despair. A strange, cold smile actually appeared on his expressionless face. He turned back to glance at us, his features wearing a look like that of a bloodthirsty killer or a savage ghost. He even gave a few cold laughs. Combined with that face of his, the sight was terrifying beyond measure. I nearly woke up on the spot from the fright. Then he looked away again, once more regarding the stone on the ground, that faint smile unchanged.

After a brief pause, Ghost-Face Zhang suddenly reached up and stripped off his black overcoat, then his inner shirt, revealing a solid, somewhat lean torso. Though his body bore many old knife scars and had a weathered look, his skin was still strikingly pale.

"Th-this guy isn't going to, to act indecent, is he?" Black Cloak, who was lying beside me, stared unblinking at Ghost-Face Zhang ahead and muttered under her breath.

I had thought this girl had already been rendered senseless by the sound, never imagining she still had the energy to admire Ghost-Face Zhang stripping and that enviable physique. I spat weakly and said, "I thought you were already asleep dead, and here you are still in the mood to watch Third Master Zhang take his clothes off. What is it, feeling restless in spring?"

At my mockery, Black Cloak let out a snort. "I don't have time to banter with you. Get down, now."

I froze. "What, are you trying to make up with me even in death?"

"You're in my way. Haven't you noticed Ghost-Face Zhang isn't quite right?"

Only then did I come to myself. So it was my fault she couldn't watch him properly. I immediately flopped to the ground, forcing my eyes wide open, terrified of falling asleep and not even knowing how I died. Fixing my gaze, I looked at Ghost-Face Zhang, and the sight nearly scared the soul out of me.

Ghost-Face Zhang drew his long blade and with one sweep tossed the scabbard aside. Wearing that cold smile, he said nothing, simply raised the blade and slashed three times across his own arm. A chill wind seemed to pass with those three cuts, and blood began flowing from his arm, dripping steadily to the ground.

"Third Brother!" Iron Crutch Liu also raised his head then, staring forward at Ghost-Face Zhang in terror. "This is bad, this is bad!"

Before any of us could ask what was happening, Ghost-Face Zhang lifted his left arm. From that structure of lips with no flesh, only teeth, gums, and the occasional exposed bone, mixed with rotten meat, he actually stuck out his tongue and licked the blood from his wound. At that instant, his eyes instantly went bloodshot, the veins on his muscles bulged violently, and his entire frame abruptly became stronger, even seeming to swell by one or two sizes.

He shook his arm, but the blood still kept running. He paid it no mind. With a sudden blur of his legs, he moved as if flying along walls in some film and appeared beside the Kaleidoscope in an instant. Reaching out, he actually lifted the two-hundred-pound Kaleidoscope one-handed, then flung her five or six meters backward into the rear of the group as casually as tossing a sack.

With a sharp crack, like a butcher’s shop unloading meat, the Kaleidoscope hit the ground so hard she let out a muffled groan and nearly spat blood.

Hum...

The seventh long note rang out at once through the tomb passage. The pressure instantly made it feel as though I could no longer breathe. I could only lie flat on the ground to barely keep myself moving.

Ghost-Face Zhang's legs swayed and nearly collapsed to one knee. The wounds on his arm were torn open by the pressure, and blood stained both his arms red. Yet he still gave no heed, swinging his long blade once more to strike the next iron pipe.

Hum...

When the eighth long note sounded, every joint in my body had become impossible to move. I could do nothing but let it continue, lying still on the ground, unable even to raise a finger. It felt as though some immense force were crushing me, leaving me completely helpless. If the final strike were to add even more pressure to this space, then it was obvious that none of us would survive; we would all be ground into fragments by that terrible force.

Yet when the eighth tone rang out, Ghost-Face Zhang somehow remained standing, refusing to fall. He stood rigidly in place, and the ground beneath his boots was crushed into a deep footprint. The skin and flesh around the wounds on his arm were actually peeled back by the pressure of the space, and blood sprayed out in a fine jet. It had literally torn the flesh from his arm; the pain must have been unimaginable. But Ghost-Face Zhang still showed no concern, merely shaking his left arm again before taking one difficult step forward and swinging the blade in his hand toward the final iron pipe.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Before Ghost-Face Zhang's blade could even touch the pipe, three gunshots rang out through the tomb passage. Ghost-Face Zhang gave a muffled groan and, with the last of his strength, hurled the treasured blade in his hand. The hilt struck the edge of the pipe.

Hum...

The long blade fell to the ground with a clang, the sound of the great bell rose once more, and the pressure in the tomb passage vanished in an instant, without a trace.

"Third Master Zhang!"

"Third Brother!"

I sprang up at once and looked toward Ghost-Face Zhang. He had already returned to his original form. His left arm was drenched in blood, the flesh badly torn open. Across his upper body, three bullet wounds had struck the small of his abdomen with perfect precision. He staggered a few steps, his body tipping backward as he dropped to his knees, yet he still forced himself not to fall.

Whoosh!

Just as we were about to rush forward to inspect his injuries, a black shadow burst from a corner of the abyss and threw itself beside him, gathering Ghost-Face Zhang into its arms.

"..."

Ghost-Face Zhang's voice was as faint as a thread, almost as if he were speaking to himself. None of us heard it; we could only see his lips moving.

"Who are you? Who are you?" Iron Crutch Liu bent down to pick up his dual trident, then rushed forward with a sharp question, pointing the weapon at the figure dressed in black.

I tilted my head and glanced at my old flame in the black cloak beside me. "You're with them? Why are you dressed the same?"

My old flame in the black cloak snorted. "Maybe she's Third Master Zhang's old flame. Just watch."

The second black cloak said nothing. She waved a hand and used her cloak to cover Ghost-Face Zhang's body, then let out a long sigh and looked at us. "Mind your own business. If anything happens to him, I'll wipe all of you out."

On hearing that, Iron Crutch Liu gave a cold laugh. "So it's a woman after all. In these times, the yin is truly on the rise and the yang in decline. Looks like you're asking for death. Take this!"

With that, he drove the dual trident straight at the body of the second black cloak.

The second black cloak laughed coldly, flicked her robe, and with her left arm still holding Ghost-Face Zhang, she spun around behind Iron Crutch Liu as if she were floating, then drove a lightning-fast kick straight into his lower back.

Bang!

With that dull impact, Iron Crutch Liu screamed and was sent flying more than three meters away. That blow was truly enough to shake heaven and earth and frighten ghosts and gods alike.